Nearly finished CISSP book - now what?

CyberCop123

In January I started ready my 950 page Sybex CISSP book. Around March/April onwards I lost tons of momentum and have barely touched it since.

But ive learned tons and I have 3 chapters left and will have them finished in 2-3 weeks.

Im just wondering what to do next. I know it's a hard question as I don't know (and you don't know my knowledge level).

Wondering if i should do:

A) Read the 600 page Conrad book to further cement the knowledge and re-learn anything i missed or have forgotten

Go onto Boson questions. I get most of these wrong. But my idea was to do 10-15 and any I get wrong I will spend 10 minutes looking up the topic, doing a cue card and learning from my mistake

C) any other tactic?

...

I'm not sure I have the energy to go through another big book. So I'm leaning more towards questions+videos+podcasts.

Any thoughts on this?

PCTechLinc

When I was as close as you, I switched to focusing on practice tests. I went over the 11th Hour book, as well as Shon Harris' AIO for reference. You won't see any questions on practice exams that are even close to the real exam, but I think the Total Tester and Boson questions were similar in difficulty level. If you are getting between 80 - 90% on most of the questions, then you should be ready.

If you are consistently getting low scores on the questions, you NEED to understand WHY the answers are correct/incorrect. On the real exam, you will get four answers that have nothing to do with each other, and you will need to know why a particular answer will not work. Think of the implications of the technologies involved when you are looking at the questions. This is the level of detail you need for this exam.

Best of luck!

fitzlopez

CyberCop123 wrote: »

In January I started ready my 950 page Sybex CISSP book. Around March/April onwards I lost tons of momentum and have barely touched it since.

But ive learned tons and I have 3 chapters left and will have them finished in 2-3 weeks.

Im just wondering what to do next. I know it's a hard question as I don't know (and you don't know my knowledge level).

Wondering if i should do:

A) Read the 600 page Conrad book to further cement the knowledge and re-learn anything i missed or have forgotten

Go onto Boson questions. I get most of these wrong. But my idea was to do 10-15 and any I get wrong I will spend 10 minutes looking up the topic, doing a cue card and learning from my mistake

C) any other tactic?

...

I'm not sure I have the energy to go through another big book. So I'm leaning more towards questions+videos+podcasts.

Any thoughts on this?

Before you read another book I would recommend you do a couple of practice tests. In my case I was listening in the commute to work at the CISSP material and when a topic I had wrong came up, I paid close attention to understand why I was wrong. A week or so before doing my exam I skimmed thru all the material and tried to do a test every 3 or 4 days.

Info_Sec_Wannabe

PCTechLinc wrote: »

When I was as close as you, I switched to focusing on practice tests. I went over the 11th Hour book, as well as Shon Harris' AIO for reference. You won't see any questions on practice exams that are even close to the real exam, but I think the Total Tester and Boson questions were similar in difficulty level. If you are getting between 80 - 90% on most of the questions, then you should be ready.

If you are consistently getting low scores on the questions, you NEED to understand WHY the answers are correct/incorrect. On the real exam, you will get four answers that have nothing to do with each other, and you will need to know why a particular answer will not work. Think of the implications of the technologies involved when you are looking at the questions. This is the level of detail you need for this exam.

Best of luck!

+1 though I can't speak for Boson as I haven't used it.

CyberCop123

Thanks everyone, I do find the Boson questions ridiculously hard which is worrying. One main issue is that many of the questions/answers are ones not in the Sybex book or the Conrad book. They're in the Shon Harris AIO book which I've not read - although I do have a PDF version of the book on my computer, so I can at least look up the answers if I get one wrong

chrisone

Books/Cert guides (expense)
CBT (www.cybrary.it) CISSP Video and MP3 course by Kelly Henderson (13hrs of material free and updated!)
sunflower **** sheet (sometimes you want to get to the heart of the matter)
Sybex practice questions (expense)
McGraw Hill Pratice questions (free)
Consistency and practice, lots of information to be absorb here.

Goodluck!

the_Grinch

Definitely checkout the Cybrary videos because they were instrumental in my passing of the exam. I'd agree that you should also begin doing questions, but in the amount that the exam would require you to complete. Practicing for the 6 hours is very important in my opinion.

Info_Sec_Wannabe

CyberCop123 wrote: »

Thanks everyone, I do find the Boson questions ridiculously hard which is worrying. One main issue is that many of the questions/answers are ones not in the Sybex book or the Conrad book. They're in the Shon Harris AIO book which I've not read - although I do have a PDF version of the book on my computer, so I can at least look up the answers if I get one wrong

In what way was the Boson questions hard (as I've no idea)? While I haven't read the entire Shon Harris AIO book, I did review the Summary sections of the domains that I felt I was weak in. Also, some of the questions in the McGraw Hill Practice Questions mentioned above are similar to the ones in Total Tester.

the_Grinch wrote: »

Practicing for the 6 hours is very important in my opinion.

The CAT format of the exam can only be taken for a maximum of 3 hours, unless you're taking it in another (non-English) language, in which case, it will still be the 6-hour linear format.

Falcon56

CyberCop123.....welcome back!!! I had been checking, sporadically, on you and your progress. Sorry I am just now answering....I hope everything is well in your life and you can commit to this thing and get it out of the way now.

My suggestion is that you sign up for the practice tests for both the official guide and the ISC2 practice tests. Hammer those for about 2/3 weeks [and I mean HAMMER them] and go take this test. Whatever your weak areas are, go back and study the official study guide. Make sure you know the SDLC, the BCP/DRP concepts like you talk about them every day! Know the managerial concepts INSIDE and OUT [caps for emphasis]. If you need a refresher, please go look at my "I passed" thread from earlier this year. You are going to feel like you are failing this test....it is part of the "initiation" .....keep going and stay the course. As Sari Greene says in her videos, "start eliminating bad answers based on the question and let that be your guide." [Not what she actually said but I am paraphrasing.....LOL]

You passed the OSCP, I followed your progress....you've GOT THIS!!!! Please don't do like I did and turn this thing into a marathon you don't need to run.....wishing you nothing but the best!!!!!

fjr_guy

How did you get Shon Harris book on PDF?

CyberCop123 wrote: »

Thanks everyone, I do find the Boson questions ridiculously hard which is worrying. One main issue is that many of the questions/answers are ones not in the Sybex book or the Conrad book. They're in the Shon Harris AIO book which I've not read - although I do have a PDF version of the book on my computer, so I can at least look up the answers if I get one wrong

AggressiveProgression

CyberCop123 wrote: »

Thanks everyone, I do find the Boson questions ridiculously hard which is worrying. One main issue is that many of the questions/answers are ones not in the Sybex book or the Conrad book. They're in the Shon Harris AIO book which I've not read - although I do have a PDF version of the book on my computer, so I can at least look up the answers if I get one wrong

Boson exams are interesting...I'm working on the CISSP as well but I remember using Boson for my CEH and I felt as though the questions were harder than the actual exam. Total tester was more equivalent in my opinion.

Info_Sec_Wannabe

Falcon56 wrote: »

You passed the OSCP, I followed your progress....you've GOT THIS!!!! Please don't do like I did and turn this thing into a marathon you don't need to run.....wishing you nothing but the best!!!!!

+1. Was one of those who subscribed to your OSCP thread. Given that the OSCP is much more focused and in-depth as compared to CISSP, you can definitely do this!

fjr_guy wrote: »

How did you get Shon Harris book on PDF?

I remember the physical book came with a CD that has the PDF copy.